Dissertation - World Federation of Music Therapy

References to examples in the BMGIM literature: A therapist-client experienced the
transformative potential of the BMGIM model already in her first BMGIM session,
where she delved into a detailed metaphoric narrative of 'the freeing of a butterfly’
(Bush 1995). One single session of another client exhibited classic archetypal imagery
parallel to the fairytale of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’ (Short
1997).’Heroine's Journeys’ are often presented in the BMGIM literature (e.g. Smith
1997, case study #1) Many clients seem to enter a healing or individuation process
following the narrative configuration of myths and fairy tales (Borling et al. 1999;
Clark 1995; Melvor 1999). (Other references: Clark (1999a); Hanks (1992), McIvor
(1998); Wesley (1998). 43
3.7.5 Conclusions
The theory of metaphors unfolding at specific levels in BMGIM is a narrative theory.
A session can be seen as a part of a short story - or a chapter of a novel. A complete
therapy is, metaphorically speaking, like a complete short story, or even a novel. A
human being is a narrator and a narrative at the same time - we tell our life story and
others tell it into a complex texture of facts, fiction, episodes and interpretations.
Metaphors form a gateway for the exploration, enabling a new, narrative causality to
unfold, and narratives to be retold. In psychotherapy the narratives can be
deconstructed and reconstructed, involving some or all three levels of metaphors.
Metaphor is the starting point for a narrative understanding of the BMGIM process:
BMGIM is a unique psychotherapeutic model allowing almost immediate access to
the client's unconscious - enabling a spontaneous therapeutic dialogue through
imagery and metaphors.
Metaphor is a means to structure what is unfamiliar and complex. The language of
imagery and metaphor influences the unconscious in a more natural, embodied, direct
and productive way than logical, analytical language. Metaphors work through
tension and they unfold at three specific levels. The configuration of metaphors and
43 A special type of level three metaphor is the ‘therapist’s narrative’: When therapy is terminated (or
for the last session), the therapist may write a narrative using core metaphors from (some of) the
sessions, thus giving back to the client the therapist's own experience of the process. These narratives
very often resemble fairy tales or myths.
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